SirPlus: the supermarket that rescues unwanted food - rescuing as a new way of buying
SirPlus, based in Germany, is an excellent example of a business that avoids food waste. It's a supermarket that sells food rejected by other shops because it is visually unappealing (misshapen fruit and vegetables, etc.), mislabelled or near or past the best-before date.
Its goal is to create a food outlet that only sells food discarded by other sellers. The products come from farmers, wholesalers and other shops. They are inspected to ensure that they are safe to eat before being put on the shelves or sold online. On average, products sold at SirPlus are 70% cheaper than in conventional supermarkets.
SirPlus also sells to charity organisations such as refugee centres and soup kitchens which need cheap food. It aims to “make food saving mainstream”.
- To date, the 25 938 food volunteers have helped save 8 960 026,5 kg of edible food that would otherwise have ended up in the bin.
- Since 2017, SirPlus has managed to avoid over 2 500 tonnes of food waste.
- SirPlus collaborates with over 700 partners from producers to wholesalers, all working to stop food being wasted.